How old is Valentina Tereshkova, the cosmonaut. Biography of Valentina Tereshkova: the path to a brilliant career, personal life

TERESHKOVA Valentina Vladimirovna- the world's first female astronaut. Born on March 6, 1937 in the village of Maslennikovo, Tutaevsky district, Yaroslavl region, into a family of collective farmers. My father worked as a tractor driver, my mother did housework and worked on a collective farm.

During the Great Patriotic War, the father died at the front, and the mother and three children moved to the city of Yaroslavl. There little Valya went to school. She graduated from a seven-year school, then an evening school for working youth.

At the end of June 1954, she came to work at the Yaroslavl Tire Plant in the assembly shop as a cutter. In 1955, she moved to the Yaroslavl technical fabrics plant "Krasny Perekop", where she worked as a bracelet maker.

In 1956 she entered the Yaroslavl Correspondence College of Light Industry. In addition to working and studying at the technical school, she attended a local flying club, went in for parachuting, and made 163 parachute jumps. She was awarded the first category in parachuting.

At the Krasny Perekop plant she joined the Komsomol, and in 1960 she was elected secretary of the Komsomol organization of the plant. In 1960 she graduated from the Yaroslavl Correspondence College of Light Industry. She worked as a liberated secretary of the Komsomol committee of the Yaroslavl industrial textile plant "Krasny Perekop" until 1962, when she was enrolled in the corps of Soviet cosmonauts (1962 Group of Women Cosmonauts No. 1).

Completed a full training course for flights on Vostok-class ships. On June 16 - 19, 1963, she was the first woman in the world to fly into space on the Vostok-6 spacecraft. The flight was quite difficult, and this was probably one of the reasons that the woman’s next flight into space took place only 19 years later. The flight duration was 2 days 22 hours 50 minutes.

After her flight, she continued to undergo training in the cosmonaut corps, but most of her time began to be occupied by social work. Tereshkova had to make many trips to the cities of the USSR and to many countries of the world.

At the end of 1963, her wedding took place with cosmonaut Andriyan Grigorievich Nikolaev. It is believed that this marriage was largely artificial; it was pushed towards it both by medical scientists, who wanted to continue the research begun in space on the behavior of the human body during and after the flight, and by the leaders of the Soviet state, primarily Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, who sought to arrange This wedding is another propaganda stunt. Whether this is true or not, the wedding took place.

In 1964, a daughter, Elena, was born into the “space” family. After existing for several years, the marriage broke up.

Simultaneously with her work at the Cosmonaut Training Center, active social activities and activities with her little daughter, Tereshkova entered the Military Engineering Academy named after N. E. Zhukovsky, which she successfully graduated in 1969, receiving the specialty of pilot-cosmonaut engineer.

She was actively involved in the cosmonaut corps until 1968, when the women's group was disbanded. However, she continued to be a member of the cosmonaut corps until 1987, and in 1985 the possibility of her re-flight into space was even considered.

Since 1968, he has been working in Soviet, and later Russian, public organizations. From 1968 to 1987 she was the chairman of the Soviet Women's Committee.

In 1987 - 1992 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. In 1992, she was the chairman of the presidium of the Russian Association for International Cooperation.

In 1992 - 1995 - First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Agency for International Cooperation and Development. Since 1995 - Chairman of the Interdepartmental Council for Coordinating the Activities of Russian Centers of Science and Culture Abroad. Member of the Central Committee of the CPSU from 1971 to 1990.

Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1966 to 1989. Member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1974 to 1989. Vice-President of the International Democratic Federation of Women in 1969 - 1987. She was a member of the World Peace Council and an honorary member of many organizations. Candidate of Technical Sciences (1976). Major General of Aviation.

Hero of the Soviet Union. She was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Friendship of Peoples, and medals. Tereshkova was awarded the titles Hero of Socialist Labor of Czechoslovakia, Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, Hero of Labor of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic. Awarded the Frédéric Joliot-Curie Gold Peace Medal, the UN Gold Peace Medal, the K. E. Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the British Society for Interplanetary Communications Gold Medal for Achievement in Space Exploration, the Space Gold Medal (FAI) , the Order of the Wind Rose with a diamond of the International Committee for Aeronautics and Space Flight, the Order of Karl Marx (GDR), Georgiy Dimitrov (Bulgaria), the Grunwald Cross of the first class (Poland), the Order of the Banner of the first class with diamonds (Hungary), the Order of Sukhoi Bator (Mongolia), the Order of Playa Giron (Cuba) and many others.

Honorary citizen of the cities of Kaluga, Yaroslavl (Russia), Karaganda (Kazakhstan), Vitebsk (Belarus), Montreux, Drancy (France), Montgomery (Great Britain), Polizzi-Generosa (Italy), Darkhan (Mongolia), Sofia, Petrich, Stara Zagora, Pleven, Varna (Bulgaria).

A crater on the Moon is named after Tereshkova.

Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova. Born on March 6, 1937 in the village of Bolshoye Maslennikovo, Tutaevsky district, Yaroslavl region. Soviet cosmonaut No. 6, 10th cosmonaut in the world, the world's first female cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union (1963).

Valentina Tereshkova was born on March 6, 1937 in the village of Bolshoye Maslennikovo, Tutaevsky district, Yaroslavl region, into a peasant family.

Father - Vladimir Aksenovich Tereshkov (1912-1940), born in the village of Vyylovo, Belynichi district, Mogilev region, tractor driver. In 1939 he was drafted into the Red Army and died in the Soviet-Finnish War.

Mother - Elena Fedorovna Tereshkova (nee Kruglova) (1913-1987), originally from the village of Eremeevshchina, Dubrovensky district, worked at a textile factory.

Older sister - Lyudmila. Younger brother - Vladimir.

Russian by nationality.

After the war, the family moved to Yaroslavl, where the mother began working as a weaver.

In 1945, Valentina entered secondary school No. 32 in the city of Yaroslavl (now named after Tereshkova).

Since childhood, she demonstrated a good ear for music and learned to play the domra.

In 1953, she graduated from seven classes of school and, to help her family, went to work at the Yaroslavl Tire Plant as a bracelet maker in the assembly and vulcanization shop in preparatory operations. There she operated a diagonal cutting machine. At the same time, she studied in evening classes at a school for working youth.

From April 1955, she worked for seven years as a weaver at the Krasny Perekop technical fabrics factory, where her mother and older sister also worked.

Since 1959, she has been involved in parachuting at the Yaroslavl flying club and performed 90 jumps.

Continuing to work at the Krasny Perekop textile mill, from 1955 to 1960 she completed correspondence studies at the Light Industry College. In 1957 she joined the Komsomol. Since August 11, 1960 - released secretary of the Komsomol committee of the Krasny Perekop plant.

After the first successful flights of Soviet cosmonauts, the idea came up to launch a female cosmonaut into space. At the beginning of 1962, a search began for applicants according to the following criteria: parachutist, under 30 years old, up to 170 cm tall and weighing up to 70 kg.

Out of hundreds of candidates, five were chosen: Zhanna Yorkina, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Valentina Ponomareva, Irina Solovyova and Valentina Tereshkova. Immediately after being accepted into the cosmonaut corps, Tereshkova, along with the other girls, was called up for compulsory military service with the rank of privates.

On March 12, 1962, Valentina Tereshkova was enrolled in the cosmonaut corps and began training as a student-cosmonaut of the 2nd detachment. On November 29, 1962, she passed her final exams in OKP with “excellent marks.” Since December 1, 1962, Tereshkova has been a cosmonaut of the 1st detachment of the 1st department. On June 16, 1963, that is, immediately after the flight, she became an instructor-cosmonaut of the 1st detachment and held this position until March 14, 1966.

During her training, she underwent training on the body’s resistance to the factors of space flight. The training included a thermal chamber, where she had to be in a flight suit at a temperature of +70 ° C and a humidity of 30%, and a soundproof chamber - a room isolated from sounds, where each candidate had to spend 10 days.

Zero-gravity training took place on the MiG-15. When performing a parabolic slide, weightlessness was established inside the plane for 40 seconds, and there were 3-4 such sessions per flight. During each session, it was necessary to complete the next task: write your first and last name, try to eat, talk on the radio.

Particular attention was paid to parachute training, since the astronaut ejected before landing and landed separately by parachute. Since there was always a risk of splashdown of the descent vehicle, training was also carried out on parachute jumps in the sea, in a technological, that is, not tailored to size, spacesuit.

Initially, it was planned for two female crews to fly simultaneously, but in March 1963 this plan was abandoned, and the task became to choose one of five candidates.

When choosing Tereshkova for the role of the first female cosmonaut, in addition to successfully completing training, political issues were also taken into account: Tereshkova was from the workers, while, for example, Ponomareva and Solovyova were from the employees. In addition, Tereshkova's father, Vladimir, died during the Soviet-Finnish War when she was two years old. After the flight, when Tereshkova was asked how the Soviet Union could thank her for her service, she asked to find the place where her father died.

Not the least selection criterion was the candidate’s ability to conduct active social activities - meeting people, speaking in public on numerous trips around the country and the world, demonstrating in every possible way the advantages of the Soviet system.

Other candidates, with no worse preparation (based on the results of a medical examination and theoretical preparedness of female cosmonaut candidates, Tereshkova was placed in last place), were noticeably inferior to Tereshkova in the qualities necessary for such social activities. Therefore, she was appointed as the main candidate for the flight, I.B. Solovyov as a backup, and V.L. Ponomarev as a reserve.

At the time of Tereshkova’s appointment as Vostok-6 pilot, she was 10 years younger than Gordon Cooper, the youngest of the first group of American astronauts.

Flight of Valentina Tereshkova on the Vostok-6 ship

Tereshkova made the world's first flight of a female cosmonaut on June 16, 1963 on the Vostok-6 spacecraft. It lasted almost three days. The launch took place at Baikonur not from the “Gagarin” site, but from a duplicate one. At the same time, the Vostok-5 spacecraft, piloted by cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky, was in orbit.

On the day of her flight into space, she told her family that she was leaving for a parachute competition; they learned about the flight from the news on the radio.

“The preparation of the rocket, the ship and all maintenance operations went extremely smoothly. In terms of the clarity and coherence of the work of all services and systems, Tereshkova’s launch reminded me of Gagarin’s launch. Like April 12, 1961, on June 16, 1963, the flight was prepared and started perfectly. Everyone who saw During the preparation for the launch and the launch of the spacecraft into orbit, Tereshkova, who listened to her reports on the radio, was unanimously told: “She carried out the launch better than Popovich and Nikolaev.” Yes, I am very glad that I was not mistaken in choosing the first female cosmonaut."“,” Lieutenant General Nikolai Kamanin, who was involved in the selection and training of cosmonauts, described Tereshkova’s launch.

Tereshkova's call sign for the duration of the flight is "Gull".

The phrase she said before the start: "Hey! Sky! Take off your hat!(modified quote from V. Mayakovsky’s poem “A Cloud in Pants”).

During the flight, Tereshkova had problems with the orientation of the ship. “I talked to Tereshkova several times. I feel like she’s tired, but she doesn’t want to admit it. In the last communication session, she didn’t answer calls from the Leningrad IP. We turned on the television camera and saw that she was sleeping. We had to wake her up and talk to her both about the upcoming landing and about manual orientation. She tried twice to orient the ship and honestly admitted that she couldn’t get the pitch orientation. This circumstance worries us all very much: if we have to land manually, and she cannot orient the ship, then it will not will leave orbit", - Sergei Korolev wrote in the journal on June 16, 1963.

Later it turned out that the commands issued by the pilot were inverted to the direction of control movement in manual mode (the ship turned in the wrong direction as when trained on the simulator). According to Tereshkova, the problem was in the incorrect installation of the control wires: commands were given not to descend, but to raise the spacecraft’s orbit. In automatic mode, the polarity was correct, which made it possible to properly orient and land the ship. Valentina received new data from Earth and put it into the computer. Tereshkova remained silent about this case for more than forty years, because S.P. Korolev asked her not to tell anyone about this.

Valentina Tereshkova is the only woman in the world to have completed a solo space flight.

According to Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor V.I. Yazdovsky, who was responsible for the medical support of the Soviet space program at that time, women tolerate the extreme stress of space flight worse on the 14th-18th day of the monthly cycle. However, due to the fact that the launch of the carrier that put Tereshkova into orbit was delayed for a day, and also, obviously, due to the strong psycho-emotional load when putting the ship into orbit, the flight mode prescribed by the doctors could not be maintained.

Yazdovsky also notes that “Tereshkova, according to telemetry and television monitoring, endured the flight mostly satisfactorily. Negotiations with ground communication stations were sluggish. She sharply limited her movements. She sat almost motionless. She clearly showed changes in her health of a vegetative nature.”

Despite the nausea and physical discomfort, Tereshkova survived 48 revolutions around the Earth and spent almost three days in space, where she kept a logbook and took photographs of the horizon, which were later used to detect aerosol layers in the atmosphere.

The Vostok-6 descent module landed safely in the Baevsky district of the Altai Territory.

After landing, Tereshkova violated the regime in the area of ​​the landing site: she distributed food supplies from the astronauts’ diet to local residents, and she herself ate local food after three days of fasting. According to the testimony of pilot Marina Popovich, S.P. Tereshkova was with her after the flight. Korolev said: “As long as I’m alive, not a single woman will fly into space again.” As you know, the next flight of a woman into space (Svetlana Savitskaya) took place 19 years later, in August 1982 (Korolev died in 1966).

They called her “Miss Universe”, dedicated poems and songs, and presented her with awards. However, Tereshkova was able to walk on her own only after a month, and throughout her subsequent life she suffered from bleeding and brittle bones.

After completing the space flight, Tereshkova entered the Air Force Engineering Academy. NOT. Zhukovsky and, having graduated with honors, later became a candidate of technical sciences, professor, and author of more than 50 scientific papers. Tereshkova was ready for a one-way flight to Mars.

From April 30, 1969 to April 28, 1997, Valentina Tereshkova - instructor-cosmonaut of the cosmonaut detachment of the 1st department of the 1st directorate of the group of orbital ships and stations, instructor-cosmonaut-tester of the group of orbital manned complexes for general and special purposes, 1st group of the detachment astronauts.

In 1982, she could even be appointed commander of the female crew of the Soyuz spacecraft. On April 30, 1997, Tereshkova left the squad - the last of the female recruits of 1962 due to reaching the age limit.

Since 1997 - senior researcher at the Cosmonaut Training Center.

Social and political activities of Valentina Tereshkova

Since March 1962 - member of the CPSU. In 1966-1989 - deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the VII-XI convocations. In 1971-1990 - member of the CPSU Central Committee. Delegate to the XXIV, XXV, XXVI and XXVII Congresses of the CPSU. In 1974-1989 - deputy and member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In 1968-1987 she headed the Soviet Women's Committee. In 1969 - vice-president of the International Democratic Federation of Women, member of the World Peace Council.

In 1987-1992, Chairman of the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.

In 1989-1992 - People's Deputy of the USSR from the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and the Rodina Society.

On January 22, 1969, she was in a car fired upon by officer Viktor Ilyin during an assassination attempt.

In 1992 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Russian Association for International Cooperation. In 1992-1995 - First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Agency for International Cooperation and Development.

In 1994-2004 - head of the Russian Center for International Scientific and Cultural Cooperation.

In 1995, she was awarded the rank of Major General ( Russia's first woman with the rank of major general).

On September 14, 2003, at the II Congress of the Russian Party of Life, she was nominated as a candidate for deputy in the Elections to the State Duma of the 4th convocation on the Federal party list at number 3, but the party bloc did not overcome the electoral threshold.

In 2008-2011 - deputy of the Yaroslavl Regional Duma from the United Russia party, deputy chairman.

On April 5, 2008, she was a torchbearer of the Russian leg of the torch relay of the Beijing Olympics in St. Petersburg.

In 2011, she was elected to the State Duma of Russia from the United Russia party on the Yaroslavl regional list. Together with Elena Mizulina, Irina Yarova and Andrei Skoch, she was a member of the inter-factional parliamentary group for the protection of Christian values. In this capacity, she supported amendments to the Russian Constitution, according to which “Orthodoxy is the basis of the national and cultural identity of Russia.”

She headed the party list in the elections to the Yaroslavl Regional Duma in 2013.

On February 7, 2014, at the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia carried the Olympic flag among eight selected people.

With the assistance and participation of Tereshkova, a university was opened in Yaroslavl, a new building for a technical school of light industry, a river station, a planetarium were built, and the Volga embankment was landscaped. Throughout his life he provides assistance to his native school and the Yaroslavl orphanage.

Since 2015 - President of the non-profit charitable foundation "Memory of Generations".

In the parliamentary elections on September 18, 2016, she took second place in the regional group of United Russia, which includes the Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Kostroma and Tver regions.

Valentina Tereshkova. Seagull and Hawk

Personal life of Valentina Tereshkova:

First husband - Andriyan Grigorievich Nikolaev(1929-2004), USSR cosmonaut No. 3, twice Hero of the Soviet Union.

Their wedding took place in a government mansion on the Lenin Hills on November 3, 1963. Among the guests was. After the marriage and until the divorce, Tereshkova bore the double surname Nikolaeva-Tereshkova.

On June 8, 1964, their daughter Elena was born - the first child in the world whose father and mother were both astronauts.

The marriage of Tereshkova and Nikolaev was officially dissolved in 1982, after the daughter came of age. “At work there is gold, at home there is a despot,” Tereshkova said about her ex-husband.

However, according to the stories of people close to the couple, the marriage broke up when Tereshkova had another man and the affair could no longer be hidden. Allegedly, she asked for a divorce personally from Brezhnev, who gave the go-ahead.

After breaking up with her husband, Valentina Vladimirovna forbade Nikolaev to see Elena and soon demanded that her daughter change Nikolaev’s last name to her own - Tereshkova.

Nikolaev never married again.

Second husband - Yuliy Shaposhnikov(1931-1999), Major General of Medical Service, Director of the Central Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics (CITO).

Daughter Elena Tereshkova- orthopedic surgeon, works at CITO. She was married twice.

The first husband is pilot Igor Alekseevich Mayorov (his father headed the Aeroflot representative office in Europe and was the personal pilot of the secretaries general - Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko and Gorbachev). The marriage gave birth to a son, Alexey, on October 20, 1995.

Tereshkova was against her daughter’s marriage to Igor Mayorov. During seven years of marriage, Igor never saw his mother-in-law. And Valentina Vladimirovna did not see her first grandson Alexei until she was five years old - until Elena divorced her first husband.

Elena - daughter of Valentina Tereshkova

The second husband is pilot Andrei Yuryevich Rodionov. We met when he came to her for a medical appointment. At that time, they were both married, Andrei also had a child (daughter). However, they filed for divorce and started a family. The marriage gave birth to a son, Andrei, on June 18, 2004.

Rodionov managed to establish relations with his famous mother-in-law; she gave her daughter’s new family a luxurious apartment in Granatny Lane, and communicates with her grandchildren. At the same time, Elena herself followed in her mother’s footsteps: she forbade her ex-husband Igor Mayorov to see her eldest son. Mayorov had to seek the right to communicate with the boy through the court.

Valentina Tereshkova with her daughter, son-in-law Andrei Rodionov and grandchildren

In 2004, Valentina Tereshkova underwent complex heart surgery, which prevented a heart attack.

He is an honorary citizen of the cities: Kaluga, Yaroslavl (Russia), Karaganda, Baikonur (until 1995 - Leninsk, Kazakhstan, 1977), Gyumri (until 1990 - Leninakan, Armenia, 1965), Vitebsk (Belarus, 1975), Montreux and Drancy (France) ), Montgomery (Great Britain), Polizzi-Generosa (Italy), Darkhan (Mongolia, 1965), Sofia, Burgas, Petrich, Stara Zagora, Pleven, Varna (Bulgaria, 1963), Bratislava (Slovakia, 1963).

In 1983, a commemorative coin with the image of V. Tereshkova was issued - she became the only Soviet citizen whose portrait was placed on a Soviet coin during her lifetime.

The following are named after Tereshkova:

crater on the Moon;
- minor planet 1671 Chaika (according to its call sign - “Chaika”);
- streets in different cities, including Balakhna, Balashikha, Vitebsk, Vladivostok, Dankov, Dzerzhinsk, Donetsk, Irkutsk, Ishimbay, Kemerovo, Klin, Korolev, Kostroma, Krasnoyarsk, Lipetsk, Mineralnye Vody, Mytishchi, Nizhny Novgorod, Nikolaev, Novosibirsk, Novocheboksarsk, Orenburg, Penza, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Ulan-Ude, Ulyanovsk, Yaroslavl, avenue in Gudermes, square in Tver, embankment in Evpatoria;
- schools in Yaroslavl (where she studied), in Novocheboksarsk, in Karaganda and in the city of Esik (Almaty region);
- Sports and fitness center in the city of Kursk (Solyanka tract, 16);
- Children's sports center for recreation and recreation of children and adolescents in the Kaliningrad region (45 km from Kaliningrad);
- the Cosmos Museum (not far from her village) and the planetarium in Yaroslavl.

Monument to Valentina Tereshkova in the Bayevsky district of the Altai Territory, not far from the landing site of the first female cosmonaut. Also, a monument to Tereshkova stands on the Alley of Cosmonauts in Moscow. One of the monuments was erected in the city of Lvov, but in Ukraine they propose to demolish it within the framework of the law on the so-called. decommunization.

The annual city athletics relay race for the prize of V.V. Tereshkova is held in Yaroslavl. The Yaroslavl DOSAAF military-patriotic education center bears her name.

The following songs are dedicated to Valentina Tereshkova: “The girl is called a seagull” (music by Alexander Dolukhanyan, lyrics by Mark Lisyansky, performer -), “Valentina” (in Moldavian, music by Dumitru Gheorghita, lyrics by Efim Krimerman, performer -).

Muslim Magomayev - The girl's name is a seagull

A year earlier, in March 2017, the first woman to be in space celebrated another milestone.

Major General Tereshkova is still the only representative of the fair sex in the world who has been in space alone without a crew. Having written her name in the history of world cosmonautics, Valentina Vladimirovna retired at the age of sixty, having the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Early years

Valentina was born in the spring, two days ahead of the wonderful spring holiday of March 8th.

The father of the future legendary personality was a tractor driver and died during battles during the Soviet-Finnish war. The heroine’s mother worked in the textile industry. She was born in the Yaroslavl region in the village of Bolshoye Maslennikovo.

• At school, young Valya studied well; among other successes, the girl had excellent hearing, learning to play the dombra.
• After finishing her schooling, which lasted seven years, Valentina got a job at a tire factory in Yaroslavl. So, the young bracelet-maker decided to make her contribution to help the family. Working days did not prevent the girl from continuing her studies at the school for working youth.
• The next step was getting a profession. Valentina enrolled in correspondence studies at the Light Industry Technical School, combining study with work. For more than six years, the future space explorer worked as a weaver at a mill.
• At twenty-two years old, a young and active girl is interested in parachuting. While visiting the flying club, with great pleasure Valentina Vladimirovna made more than one fearless bird's eye jump.

Woman and space

The future fate of this amazing young woman unfolds in a completely unexpected way. At age twenty-five, a young skydiver is selected to train as the first woman to fly into space. The parachutist's age and physical parameters met the requirements for candidates. The initiative came from the scientist Korolev; in addition to Tereshkova, four more candidates were selected for the zero-gravity flight.

All cosmonaut candidates were drafted into the Soviet army, received the rank of private, and immediately began training. Nine months of hard training were not in vain. In addition to physical training, all selected candidates had to spend ten days in a soundproof chamber, maintaining complete silence and solitude. By 1965, Valentina officially became a cosmonaut of the first detachment, having learned to fly airplanes, listening to many lectures and making a huge number of parachute jumps.

However, not only physical training was important for the correct selection of a candidate for cosmonaut. A woman astronaut had to have an active position, glorify the party and behave well in front of the public. Tereshkova possessed all these decisive qualities. The girl easily carried out social activities, her simple working background became an important advantage, and Valentina also coped well with practical classes and knew the necessary theory well.

A space flight

In June 1963, the first carefully trained woman was sent into space from the backup site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Valentina Tereshkova spent almost three days completely alone, in conditions of weightlessness. The specialists were satisfied with Tereshkova’s performance during the flight; many procedures and studies were performed, but Valentina Vladimirovna’s health was sluggish. At the same time, the space explorer kept all diaries and logbooks regularly and responsibly.

Problems arose due to difficulties in installing equipment, so Tereshkova was unable to orient the ship manually. The spacecraft was landed using the automatic mode. After the experiment, Korolev refused to send women into space in the future.

Further career

The flight was the first and last in the career of cosmonaut Tereshkova. Her further work was aimed at training astronauts.

In addition to the achievements described above, Valentina Vladimirovna became a professor and published more than fifty scientific papers.

Having retired in 1997, Valentina Vladimirovna continues her active social activities. Since the times of the Soviet Union, the legendary woman has been a member of the Communist Party. In the early 2000s, Tereshkova became a deputy of the Yaroslavl Regional Duma. Its activities are aimed to improve living conditions in their home region.

Personal

The brave woman has two marriages behind her. The first marriage was with cosmonaut Nikolaev and broke up in the early eighties. For the second time, Valentina Vladimirovna linked her fate with a medical worker with the rank of major general.

Russia was and remains first in everything. We were the first to go into space. The first space hero was Yuri Gagarin.

However, he was not the only one awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In addition to Gagarin, about 10 cosmonauts were sent into space at different times. Among them was Valentina Tereshkova, the first female cosmonaut.

Valentina Tereshkova

In this article we will talk about who Valentina Tereshkova really is - what is interesting in her biography and personal life for our contemporaries.

Valentina Tereshkova was born in the Yaroslavl region on March 6, 1937. Her story began in a small village, which is difficult to see on a map of Russia (formerly the USSR). Her parents are from Belarus. None of them even thought that their daughter would become the first woman in the USSR to go into space.

Tereshkova’s mother worked at a textile factory. My father was a tractor driver. Unfortunately, the Tereshkova family managed to live happily for a short time. Valentina's father died in the Soviet-Finnish war. Naturally, this was a great loss for the family.

Valentina Tereshkova in childhood and youth

It's not just that they lost a loved one. There is one less breadwinner in the family. The mother had to work even harder to at least provide her family with everything they needed.

In 1945, Tereshkova went to school in Yaroslavl. Back then, no one knew about Valentina Tereshkova. Now this school bears her name. Students know Valentina's biography inside and out. The personal life of the Soviet star is of little interest to schoolchildren. Her cosmic feat is important to them.

Valya was a diligent student. She didn't want to upset her mother, so she got exceptionally high grades. In addition to studying, Tereshkova played the dombra. Valya had a good ear for music. It is possible that if Tereshkova had not become an astronaut, she would have connected her life with music.

After 7 years of schooling, Tereshkova went to work. She wanted to help her family financially, so she got a job at a tire factory in Yaroslavl. Despite the desire to support her family, the young girl did not give up her studies. She went to school in the evening.

Valentina Tereshkova was involved in parachuting

It was at this time that Valentina became interested in parachuting. She attended the local flying club. Tereshkova was a fearless girl. Unlike her “colleagues” in the club, jumping was very easy for her.

It was parachuting that became iconic in the biography of Valentina Tereshkova. At that time, a recruitment of female paratroopers with certain parameters was announced, one of whom was supposed to fly into space.

Who else but Tereshkova could go into space?

Of course, Valentina Tereshkova was not the only contender for the title of the first Soviet female cosmonaut. Besides her there were 3 more girls. Why did you choose Tereshkova? One of the reasons is her impeccable biography and personal life. The second reason is that she really was the best prepared.

Let's remember who could go together with Tereshkova to explore the expanses of the galaxy. Among them were Valentina Ponomareva, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Irina Solovyova, Zhanna Erkina. Each of them dreamed of becoming the first.

Irina Solovyova, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Zhanna Yorkina, Valentina Ponomareva, Valentina Tereshkova and Sergey Korolev

Khrushchev had the final say. It was he who decided which of the girls would become the first astronaut. Perhaps, in addition to the reasons we listed above why we chose her, there were some others. However, nothing is known about them. Only Tereshkova knows why she went into space, and not someone else. Moreover, all the female candidates deserved it.

Valentina Tereshkov in her youth

What happened to the rest of the girls?

Two of the girls never went into space. However, this did not stop them from organizing their lives in the best way. Ponomareva became an aviation colonel. She defended her dissertation and now works at the Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology.

Valentina Tereshkova in training

Solovyova, like Ponomareva, is a candidate of sciences. She works at the cosmonaut training test center. Solovyova also took part in Antarctic and Arctic expeditions. The famous women's team "Metelitsa" became home to her.

After the flight, Valentina Tereshkova was nicknamed “Miss Universe” by the foreign press. From a girl unknown to anyone, she became a real star on a cosmic scale. Now the journalists wanted to know everything about her: her biography, something from the astronaut’s personal life.

For Valentina, June 16, 1963 was a decisive day. She found herself in orbit under the call sign “Chaika”. Before Tereshkova, only 10 people made space travel around the earth.

Valentina Tereshkova prepares for a flight into space

For 3 days, while Tereshkova was outside the boundaries of our planet, journalists learned more and more about her. She returned to earth as the most famous girl in the Soviet Union. She was solemnly greeted at the airport. Tereshkova walked along the red carpet and was presented with awards. She became the only female general in Russia.

The authorities in every possible way supported the myth that a man from outer space was returning as if from a resort. Naturally, being in aircraft at that time, it was difficult to talk about any comfort. However, Soviet citizens had to believe that flight was a matter of course for astronauts.

Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova

Interesting facts from Tereshkova's flight

How do you imagine the aircraft of that time? Nowadays, astronauts use laptops, read newspapers and have fun during the flight. In the 60s, one could only dream of at least minimal comfort.

The astronaut must spend the entire time in flight lying down. He was unable to walk or move anywhere. Agree, lying in one position for 3 days is not an easy task. Moreover, for some it is simply not feasible. Not for Tereshkova and other male cosmonauts who had already flown into space before her.

Valentina Tereshkova in space

It is known that Yuri Gagarin, returning from his first flight, could not come to his senses for several days in a row. The man forgot his name, the date and the name of the aircraft designer. Gagarin is one of those people who was always cheerful and energetic. However, after returning from space, Yuri was melancholy for several days in a row. If a man, even strong in both body and spirit, behaves like this after a flight, then what could be said about a woman, even if not as fragile as others.

Now that Valentina Tereshkova’s fame has subsided a little and only a few are still interested in her biography and personal life, she is ready to tell how the flight actually went.

Initially, they wanted to send the girl into space in a brand new lieutenant uniform. Later Tereshkova was sent to change clothes. The authorities decided that there was no need for a “militaristic note” here.

The start of the flight was surprisingly successful. But only Tereshkova and the launch managers knew what happened next. It turns out that there was an inaccuracy in the automatic program of the aircraft.

Valentina Tereshkova and Yuri Gagarin

It cannot be called insignificant. The mistake was so serious that the girl simply could not return to earth. The flying ship was oriented so that instead of descending, it raised its orbit. It turns out that Tereshkova was not approaching the Earth, but moving away from it.

Naturally, Tereshkova immediately reported this problem to the Queen. The day after the flight the system was corrected. Gradually the ship adjusted to the correct course.

No one knew about this error for several decades. Valentina Tereshkova decided to talk about this only when such information began to leak into the press without her knowledge.

Personal life of Tereshkova

Some time ago, information was circulating on the Internet that Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova was unhappy in her personal life. As if her biography was changed by Khrushchev, who married her to Valya’s first husband, Andriyan Nikolaev. In fact, this is all fiction.

Valentina Tereshkova with her first husband Andriyan Nikolaev

Tereshkova’s first husband began courting her even before the flight. Andriyan was 10 years older than Valentina. It is possible that this is one of the reasons why they broke up. The lovers got married 5 months after Tereshkova’s flight.

Some of Valentina's acquaintances believed that their marriage would really only be good for politics or science. After all, the lovers were completely different. Valentina is fire. Andriyan - water. Both Tereshkova and Nikolaev were strong-willed people. Giving in to another is an incomprehensible task for them. Many people noticed this.

The marriage of Tereshkova and Nikolaev lasted 19 years. A year after the wedding, their daughter was born.

Valentina was constantly traveling around the country. Her husband at this time was preparing for a new flight (Nikolaev was also an astronaut).

Tereshkova has repeatedly admitted to her circle of loved ones that her first husband is a real despot. It is possible that in the last years of their marriage they were together only for the sake of their daughter. The couple separated when she turned 18.

Valentina Tereshkova with her husband and daughter

Tereshkova and Nikolaev stopped appearing together in 1979. At that time, getting a divorce meant ending your astronaut career. This is especially true for Nikolaev. Moreover, some astronauts were actually suspended from work due to divorces. This could also have a detrimental effect on Valentina. At that time she was the chairman of the Soviet Women's Committee.

According to some reports, Brezhnev played one of the main roles in the biography of Valentina Tereshkova. It was he who resolved the divorce issue. It was lucky that Valya had only one daughter among her children. Plus, at the time of the divorce, she was already an adult.

Tereshkova's second husband

The second marriage for Tereshkova was happier. They met in 1978. Tereshkova hoped to fly into space again. To do this, she underwent a medical examination. Her second husband, Yuli Shaposhnikov, was one of the members of the medical commission who rendered a verdict on the astronauts.

Valentina Tereshkova and Yuliy Shaposhnikov

Relatives and friends of Tereshkova say that it was immediately clear from Valentina and Yuli that they were in love with each other. The couple had no children. But this did not stop them from being happy. Look at the photo. Here Valentina is shown with her second husband.

Valentina Tereshkova: photo

Tereshkova lived with her second husband for 20 years. It is possible that they would still be together to this day. However, in 1999, Julius died.

What is Tereshkova doing now?

Having learned about the biography of Valentina Tereshkova, her personal life and children, readers will be interested to know what the former cosmonaut is doing now.

Valentina Tereshkova now

This year Valentina celebrated her 80th birthday. Currently she is a deputy of the State Duma. Tereshkova tries to do everything and even a little more for her home region - the Yaroslavl region.

Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova wrote her name in golden letters in the history of astronautics. Indeed, a human flight into outer space is by no means an ordinary event that can impress the whole world. Especially if this cosmonaut is a fragile woman, such a step in the eyes of the public looks akin to a feat!

Childhood and parents

The future world celebrity was born in the village of Maslennikovo, Tutaevsky district, Yaroslavl region, on March 6, 1937. Her family was completely absorbed in agricultural work. Valya's father, Vladimir Aksenovich Tereshkov, realized himself in the difficult work of a tractor driver. My mother worked on a collective farm, in a textile factory.

In young age

Tereshkova’s childhood was quite difficult, as it occurred during the war years, when trouble, devastation and despair reigned all around. And taking into account the fact that in 1939 her father died at the front during the Soviet-Finnish military conflict, the future celebrity then experienced a very difficult period of life.

Little Valyusha first went to school in 1945, just after the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War. But given the rather difficult financial situation in her family, in 1955, immediately after finishing the seventh grade, she was forced to leave school and get a job at a tire production plant located in the city of Yaroslavl.

However, the girl nevertheless graduated from high school, enrolling in the evening department, the general program of which at that time was comprehended by the majority of Soviet people.

Career

It so happened, perhaps even by the will of fate, that at the age of 17 Tereshkova signed up and willingly went to the Yaroslavl flying club. She liked parachute jumping, which was often practiced there. In total, Valentina Vladimirovna completed 163 jumps from an airplane, which is a very respectable figure, especially for a woman. Tereshkova even received a sports category for her success in parachuting.

Parachuting was so successful in attracting Valentina Vladimirovna’s attention that she could no longer stop doing it. And it was thanks to this hobby that her difficult and rather thorny path to the cosmonaut team began.

After successfully completing evening school, Valentina enters the correspondence department of the Light Industry College. Here the training process lasted 5 years, from 1955 to 1960.
Having entered the Krasny Perekop enterprise in 1960, Tereshkova immediately became secretary of the Komsomol organization. I was able to successfully work in this position for two years.

Back in 1962, the famous rocket and space technology designer Sergei Korolev first voiced the idea of ​​sending a woman to conquer outer space. This idea was approved at the level of the top leadership of the then ruling communist party.

Afterwards, a thorough search began for the most suitable candidate to translate this bold plan into reality.

However, the process of choosing a female astronaut was quite difficult. Basic requirements were presented to all participants: the candidate must be involved in parachuting, her height must be up to 170 centimeters, and her weight must not exceed 70 kilograms.

Five girls were initially selected as the main cosmonaut candidates, among whom was Tereshkova. All the girls began daily grueling training, during which it became clear that Valentina Tereshkova was the most suitable candidate for space flight.

And then June 16, 1963 came - a landmark day for Tereshkova. It was then that she launched off on board the Vostok-6 spacecraft towards the unknown and mysterious expanses of space. The flight took more than two days and all this time Valentina was in a state of weightlessness, having completed 48 orbits around planet Earth!

At the end of the program, the Vostok-6 spacecraft landed in the Bayevsky district of the Altai Territory. For such a high achievement in the field of astronautics, as well as for the perseverance and perseverance demonstrated to the whole world in achieving the intended goal, Tereshkova received the honorary title “Hero of the Soviet Union.” In addition, the first female cosmonaut in history was awarded the Order of Lenin, as well as the Gold Star medal.

Until the last moment, Valentina Vladimirovna’s family could not imagine that she would be able to conquer space! They could only hear the news about Tereshkova’s grandiose flight, which excited the entire public, on the radio!

The astronaut tried to hide her true intentions from them, saying that she was going to a skydiving competition. As the astronaut herself later admitted, the motive for her actions was dictated by the fact that she was afraid of the experiences of her loved ones, and therefore tried to protect them from these emotions.

In the history of world cosmonautics, Tereshkova’s flight became the only case when a woman alone was able to carry out such an extraordinary act!

After her famous flight, Tereshkova worked as an instructor in the field of astronautics and was a spacecraft tester. In 1964 she entered the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy, and in 1969 she graduated with honors, which included the profession of “pilot-cosmonaut-engineer”.

During her studies, Valentina Vladimirovna was able to write more than 50 scientific papers in her specialization.

However, since 1966, Tereshkova has been actively immersed in social work. Thanks to her, the cosmonaut was able to receive a huge number of different awards and was awarded many recognitions both in the Soviet Union and far beyond its borders.

From 1968 to 1987, Valentina Vladimirovna held the high position of chairman of the Soviet Women's Committee. After this, Tereshkova held the post of head of the Presidium of the Union of the Soviet Society of Friendship and Culture of Communication with Foreign Countries, where she worked until 1992.

Since 1992, Tereshkova has been the chief presidium of the Russian Association for International Cooperation, and already in 1995, Valentina Vladimirovna became the chairman of the Interdepartmental Council for Coordinating the Activities of Russian Science Centers.

But since 1997, Tereshkova has been working at the Cosmonaut Training Center, where she holds the position of senior researcher.

Since 2008, Tereshkova has been a member of the deputy composition of the State Duma of Russia.

Personal life and children of Valentina Tereshkova

Living an ordinary earthly life, in 1963 Tereshkova married Andriyan Grigorievich Nikolaev, at that time also a famous cosmonaut. Soon, in 1964, they had a daughter, Elena. However, 1974 became a year of separation for Valentina Vladimirovna and Nikolaev, the family broke up, the couple divorced. She remarried Yuli Shaposhnikov, who died in 1999.>

With Andrian Nikolaev and daughter Alena. 1967